The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has been registering monthly operational profits of Rs.4 crore of late, Transport Minister Jose Thettayil has said.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Mr. Thettayil said that this, however, was neutralised by the expenses on pension, which ran up to Rs.23 crore a month. Mr. Thettayil said that KSRTC's share in total bus operations across the State had more than doubled from 13 per cent during the period of the previous government to 27 per cent.
“KSRTC's accident rate has halved from 0.39 for every one lakh kilometre to 0.18,” the Minister said.
1,000 buses a year
He said the efficiency of KSRTC services could be improved by substituting old buses by new ones in 12 years instead of the usual 15 years. The government was moving ahead with the target of buying 1,000 buses a year.
He said the cost of buying a bus could be brought down by Rs.2.50 lakh in the last three years by saving Rs.1.25 lakh each in the purchase of chassis and building of body of buses. The government introduced an open tender system in the purchase of chassis instead of the negotiation route whereby two private companies were cornering the benefits. Similarly, the services of private companies were replaced by the existing staff of KSRTC in building body of buses, Mr. Thettayil said.
Fuel efficiency of KSRTC buses had improved from 3.84 km a litre to 4.24 a litre. Similarly, life of tyres had increased from the previous 95,000 kilometre to 1.45 lakh kilometres.
The Minister said that the current government had given financial assistance of Rs.568 crore to KSRTC. Due to the government support, KSRTC could wipe out arrears to oil companies that had run up to Rs.133 crore during the tenure of the previous government. Besides, debts of Rs.1,070 crore were written off.
Pay hike
Employees were given pay hike for the first time in 10 years in 2008. Discussions on another pay revision would begin this month, Mr. Thettayil said. He said that KSRTC was operating many unfeasible services solely out of social commitment.
